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well as persons involved in designing or responding to state programs for public reporting of HAI rates.

Part III describes each of the categories of precautions developed by the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and provides guidance for their application in various healthcare settings. The categories of Transmission-Based Precautions are unchanged from those in the 1996 guideline: Contact, Droplet, and Airborne. One important change is the recommendation to don the indicated personal protective equipment (gowns, gloves, mask) upon entry into the patient’s room for patients who are on Contact and/or Droplet Precautions since the nature of the interaction with the patient cannot be predicted with certainty and contaminated environmental surfaces are important sources for transmission of pathogens.

In addition, the Protective Environment (PE) for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients, described in previous guidelines, has been updated.

There are several tables that summarize important information: 1) a summary of the evolution of this document; 2) guidance on using empiric isolation precautions according to a clinical syndrome; 3) a summary of infection control recommendations for category A agents of bioterrorism; 4) components of Standard Precautions and recommendations for their application; 5) components of the Protective Environment; and 6) a glossary of definitions used in this guideline. New in this guideline is a figure that shows a recommended sequence for donning and removing personal protective equipment used for isolation precautions to optimize safety and prevent self-contamination during removal.

Appendix A consists of an updated alphabetical list of most infectious agents and clinical conditions for which isolation precautions are recommended. A preamble to the Appendix provides a rationale for recommending the use of one or more Transmission-Based Precautions, in addition to Standard Precautions, based on a review of the literature and evidence demonstrating a real or potential risk for person-to-person transmission in healthcare settings.The type and duration of recommended precautions are presented with additional comments concerning the use of adjunctive measures or other relevant considerations to prevent transmission of the specific agent. Relevant citations are included.

New to this guideline is a comprehensive review and detailed recommendations for prevention of transmission of MDROs. This portion of the guideline was published electronically in October 2006 and updated in November, 2006 (Siegel JD, Rhinehart E, Jackson M, Chiarello L and HICPAC. Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms in Healthcare Settings 2006 www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ar/mdroGuideline2006.pdf), and is considered a part of the Guideline for Isolation Precautions. This section provides a detailed review of the complex topic of MDRO control in healthcare settings and is intended to provide a context for evaluation of MDRO at individual healthcare settings. A rationale and